Combat gene may be indicator of future PTSD

Study findings released on Wednesday by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) suggest that a previously described genetic variation may play a critical role in whether or not a soldier develops post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The study followed more than 1,000 Israeli soldiers from 2008 to 2010 and used computerized test to measure their levels of “threat bias.”

Threat bias was measured by the soldier’s timed response to certain words such as “death” versus more benign words such as “door.” Changes in response times indicated a reaction to the “threat” words differently than to the low stress words. “Soldiers preoccupied with threat at the time of enlistment or with avoiding it just before deployment were more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)…”